Whenever we talk of the 21st century cinema it's imperative to talk about independent filmmakers. Buoyed by their inexorable passion for cinema and undeterred by the paucity of resources, this tenacious breed of artists has been instrumental to the constant evolution of cinema as the definitive art form.

As far as Bollywood is concerned, indie cinema is still in its nascent stage. Short films remain the most prolific form of indie cinema prevalent in our country. Today, young and upcoming filmmakers have access to platforms like Large Short Films which has led to a surge in the number of short films that come out every year. Also, the quality is greatly improving as evident from presence of young Indian talent at premiere film festivals of the world. Take the case of Prabhakar Meena Bhaskar Pant's short film “That Sunday” which got officially selected for the Cannes film festival, starring actor Rohit Kumar in a pivotal role. The film has just got shortlisted among 14 outstanding short films of India. Here's what the actor had to say about the movie's success:

“I found the concept was new and was different from a typical regular movies and I really liked the script for me it is a great achievement that my short film was short listed among 14 outstanding short films of India, which had movies from SUJOY GHOSH, ANURAG KASHYAP like big names. For me this itself is an achievement”.

That Sunday focuses on a house-wife and her sick husband who accidentally discovers one of hers best kept secrets--a demon of sorts from her past. The movie is available on YouTube.

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Murtaza Ali Khan is an independent film critic / journalist based out of New Delhi, India. He has been writing on cinema for over seven years. He runs the award-winning entertainment blog A Potpourri of Vestiges. He is also the Films Editor at the New York City-based publication Cafe Dissensus and regularly contributes to The Hindu and The Sunday Guardian. He was previously a columnist at Huff Post. He has also contributed to publications like DailyO, Newslaundry, The Quint, Dear Cinema, Desimartini and Jamuura Blog. He regularly appears as a guest panelist on the various television channels and is also associated with radio.